World of Warcraft: Shadowlands has already been released and it went without significant issues. Now, almost a day after the launch, complaints are piling up. What is going on?
This is how the release went: In the night of November 23 to 24, 2020, precisely at 0:00, the new expansion Shadowlands launched and players immediately received the opening quest in-game.
The release went smoothly. No servers crashed, at least not for longer periods, and even on the largest German servers Blackhand, Blackmoore, and Antonidas, players were able to play without issues.
There were a few reports of players who allegedly could not play, but no significant outages were recorded. Despite some black screens here and there, the initial reactions of players to the release are mostly very positive.
Everything went smoothly on MeinMMO as well – except for the occasional disputes between us and opposing players. Cortyn has already concluded: The release of Shadowlands was awesome, no matter what you say.
This has happened now: Today, on November 24, the official Twitter account of Blizzard reported that there are server issues. The announcement appeared around 5:45 PM German time. The developers are already working on the problem:
Realm Status of WoW Shadowlands
Which realms are affected? The announcement does not specify which servers are affected. However, there are increasing complaints from players of the two realms Kazzak and Draenor in the forums.
These are the two largest servers in Europe, and they traditionally have more issues during high traffic. A few players are even already calling for free transfers to smaller realms (via WoW forums).
Where do the problems come from? A precise reason has not yet been given. However, it is quite possible that server load is simply higher at this time than it was during the release night. Many players probably did not want to deal with the stress at 0:00 and are only now coming home from work.
This could lead to a backlog of players wanting to log in at the same time. Whether this is really the reason has not been confirmed; it is pure speculation.
What happens next? The developers are working on a solution. So far, there is no information about when it can be expected. However, the situation will likely resolve itself within a few hours at the latest, as the influx of players disperses or as some players log out.
Are you affected as well? Which realm did you have problems with? Or did everything run smoothly for you? Let us know in a comment, unless you are currently busy leveling quickly to level 60 with expert tips.
